Now, with this fanfic, some details may be off a bit, but I've done my best.
I don't really own anything in here except Theo Little, Allison Logan, Ryan Westerfield, and Professor Tanner… Maybe Central City…
Please R&R, but more importantly, enjoy!
"Luke, where are you going?"
"I've told you before, Flora. Overseas, for a boarding school."
"But why?"
"I don't know. Ask the professor," grumbled Luke. He was not happy about leaving England. Yet, here he was, leaving England and going to some foreign boarding school, all because the professor knew the headmaster. He, Flora, and the professor were in the London airport.
"11 o'clock to Central City," a voice said over the intercom. Luke straightened his blue cap, waved goodbye to the professor and Flora, and boarded the plane.
In Central City-
When Luke stepped off the plane, he waited around for his luggage, then waited some more until the professor's friend saw him and walked over.
"Are you Luke?" he asked in a Midwestern accent.
"Yes."
"Well then, Luke, come with me to your new school." Reluctantly, Luke followed.
At the Tanner's Teaching College-
Luke looked around the lobby/living room as he self-consciously straightened his hat.
"Where are all the other students?" he asked. Professor Tanner frowned.
"They were supposed to be here to greet you," he said. He took a deep breath and bellowed, "Allison Logan!" There was a loud crash from somewhere upstairs.
"I'm coming!" Loud footsteps could be heard. Soon, a girl emerged from a staircase on the right.
"Allison, you were supposed to be here to welcome Luke," Professor Tanner said sternly. The girl colored.
"I'm sorry, Professor. I was taking care of the Abies fraseri," she mumbled. The girl had high cheekbones and bright, intelligent green eyes that sparkled. She also had pointed ears. Luke could tell because her long, dark brown hair was held back in a braid.
"Um…" Luke said.
"Allison, you should probably go clean up whatever it is you dropped," Professor Tanner told the girl. She colored even more, causing her face to become the color of a tomato.
"Yes, Professor," she said in what Luke suddenly realized wasn't an American accent, but a rather cultured British one. The girl ran up the stairs again.
"Who's running up and down the stairs?" a voice asked. Luke turned toward it. A girl with red hair was leaning on the railing that surrounded a landing.
"Never you mind, May," Professor Tanner said. "It was just Allison." May's face contorted.
"I should have figured," she muttered and left the landing. Luke could hear May say to someone he couldn't see, "It was just the brat."
"Um…" Luke said again.
"Oh, what are my manners?" cried Professor Tanner. "Sorry Luke, but seeing as it's so late, introductions will have to be tomorrow. Is that fine with you?"
"Yes, but what about that girl's ears?"
"What do you mean?"
"They were pointed." Professor Tanner laughed.
"Luke, you must have been drowsy from the long flight." Still, Luke wasn't convinced.
The next day-
"I've heard it in the chillest land and on the strangest sea, yet never, in extremity, has it asked a crumb of me," a voice was reciting from what Luke thought was the kitchen. There was no applause whatsoever. Luke recognized the voice as that of the girl whom he had met last night.
"Well done, Allison," said Professor Tanner. "Ryan, why don't you go wake up Luke?"
"Um, I'm already here, Professor," Luke interrupted, finally locating the entryway to the kitchen.
"How long have you been up?" asked the girl with red hair called May. Luke blushed.
"8 o'clock." All heads swiveled toward the clock on the kitchen counter, except for Allison's, whose head looked down at her watch. It was now 10.
"I got lost," Luke explained. He could feel his face getting hot. Was no one going to save him from this spotlight?"
"It's okay, Luke," said Allison. "When I first got here, I wound up in the library at 6 a.m. and didn't find my way out until 6 p.m.!" Luke heard a blond boy murmur something to May that sounded an awful lot like "kiss-up". "Luke, here are the students," Professor Tanner said. It didn't seem as though he had heard the blond boy's rude remark. Luke counted heads quickly.
"But there are only four," he said, puzzled.
"With you, it makes five," a boy said. The boy who had spoken looked rather gangly and had curly black hair. Professor Tanner chuckled. It reminded Luke of the old professor. Then he shook that out of his mind.
"Well spotted, Theo," he said, smiling genially. Then he clapped his hands. Allison, who had been reading a book, jumped. "Introductions!" declared the professor. The blond boy who had been whispering to May spoke first. He had a healthy tan and golden eyes, like a hawk's.
"My name's Ryan Westerfield, and I'm from Des Moines," he declared.
"May Parker, New York."
"Theo Little, Chicago." There was silence as all eyes fell upon Allison, who looked up from her book again.
"Oh, right," she said. The she looked at Luke. "My name's Allison Logan and I'm from Mist Haley."
"No you're not!" exclaimed Ryan. "You're from the US, not England. Get your own life straight!" Allison's face had become flushed, but not from shyness or embarrassment.
"Just so you know," she said, "I may have been born in the US, but England was the only place I ever felt like I actually had a home. So there."
"Allison, that was out of order," Professor Tanner said quietly. Allison's face became bright red, and the brilliance of her green eyes seemed to be leaking onto her skin. She slammed the book down on the counter and stalked off. Everyone went back to their food, but Luke, now feeling thoroughly disgusted, followed Allison. He followed her up the stairs and past the library and up some more stairs and past a science lab that had a large poster on one wall featuring DNA types, up a few more flights of stairs, and finally to the topmost room. Luke looked around. It was filled with plants.
"Wow," he said quietly. Allison spun around.
"Oh, it's you," she said quietly and sat down. "Why do they pick on you so much?" he asked her, sitting down on the bed next to her. She looked at him.
"Because they think I don't belong here."
"Why not?"
"I didn't receive an invitation. I just showed up on the doorstep one day, wanting an education. May got an invitation becuse of who her dad is, Ryan got an invite because who his parents are, Theo got an invite because of who is Aunt and Uncle are, and I got nothing." She said this last phrase rather bitterly. Luke noticed a small photo on a small desk that squeezed into the room. He picked it up. It had a normal looking family on it, and Luke recognized Allison as the girl who was standing next to a boy that looked so much like her, it was scary.
"Who's that? Your brother?" he asked, pointing. Allison took the picture and smiled at it.
"Yes, my older brother. My elder by less than a year. We were so close it was like we were twins."
"Were?"
"He ran away, and I haven't seen him since."
"I'm sorry."
"It wasn't your fault." They sat in silence for a while, then Luke remembered what she had said before.
"You're from Mist Haley?" he asked.
"I was there for the better part of three years," she replied, picking up a potted bamboo plant and inspecting it. Maybe it was just a trick of the light, but Luke could have sworn that the plant seemed to grow a millimeter as she touched it.
"I grew up there, then left when I was seven," Luke said.
"That would explain why I never saw you there," Allison said, setting the plant down. "You look the same age as me. I'm twelve."
"So am I."
"I lived in Mist Haley with my favorite foster family for those three years. I was eight." Luke registered the phrase 'favorite foster family'.
"You're an orphan?"
"Yes, I have been for quite a while. My brother blames himself for our parents' death. I've lived in twenty foster homes, and ran away from each only to wind up in a new one. The only family I liked was the one in Mist Haley. And then-" Her voie cracked a bit. "And then they died in a car crash. I was eleven."
"You were on your own for a whole year?"
"Yes. I flew back to the US and traveled, performing to get enough money for food. I wound up in Central City and found my way here. I don't know why he decided to let me in. The others hate me."
"I don't." She turned to face him, her bright green eyes fixed on his dark ones.
"That's very kind of you, but I'm sure that, like everyone else, you'll 'wise up' and decide I'm not fit for a school of this caliber."
During class that day-
Static crackled through the classroom.
"Trouble on First Avenue," a voice said on the police scanner that was for some reason in the room. All heads went up while everyone stopped writing notes. Professor Tanner turned to look at them.
"Ryan, May, and Theo, you may go," he said calmly. The three stood up and left the room, May bumping into Allison's desk along the way, knocking her books off.
"Oops, sorry," May said sarcastically. Allison looked up at the professor hopefully, but he merely said, "Please continue to write down the notes, Allison and Luke." Allison looked crestfallen as she bent over to pick up her books.
After the lesson they left to go get lunch.
"Where did they go?" Luke asked as he and Allison walked down the street, on their way to a nearby pizzeria that Allison said had the best cheese and the mushroom wasn't too bad either.
"On some sort of mission. Those three know something, and I want to find out what it is."
"What do you mean?" Luke asked and stopped walking. Allison stopped as well and turned to face him.
"Whenever that police scanner goes off about trouble, they disappear." Just then, three people zoomed by. The one that was swinging from some sort of thread clipped Allison as he or she swung by, knocking Allison over.
"Ooph!" Allison picked herself up gingerly.
"Who were those people?" Luke asked wonderingly.
"Central City's local superheroes, Spider-Girl, Firefly, and Flamethrower."
"Spider-Girl, you mean like Spider-Man?"
"Yeah. I suppose she's like his daughter or something... Anyway, we'd better go get lunch."
Back at the TTC-
"So then we-" May broke off as Luke and Allison entered.
"You must tell me later, May," the professor said. "Luke, Allison, I have a test for you."
"A test?" Luke looked at Allison, who looked at him.
"Don't worry, the test is easy," Ryan said. "At least, if you're talented," he added, casting a glance in Allison's direction.
"All three of us aced it," proclaimed Theo.
"Don't give it away," said May, smirking at Allison. "We don't want them to have an advantage."
"Right this way, you two," said Professor Tanner, leading them out of the lobby/living room area.
"Where are we?" Luke asked when they emerged in a large, darkened room.
"I don't know. I've never been here before," Allison said, sounding worried.
"This test," boomed Professor Tanner's voice from somewhere, "Will see how you react to life-threatening danger, and will decide whether you belong on the team or not."
"What team?" Luke asked Allison, but Allison was staring, horrified at something in the other direction. Luke turned, and his stomach dropped as he saw the monster awaiting them.
"Now," boomed Professor Tanner's voice again, "Begin!"